Military Branches Bring Back Vaccine Mandate After Virus Outbreak On Base

Military branches are reintroducing flu shot requirements as an outbreak has been growing at Lackland Air Force Base, where new recruits are trained.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ended flu shot mandates for the military in April, ending a mandate that had been in place since 1945. Hegseth said at the time that it should be a service member’s personal decision whether to get vaccinated or not.

ABC News reported, though, citing two people familiar with the situation, that an outbreak at the Air Force’s San Antonio training ground has seen an outbreak spread quickly with at least 222 recruits diagnosed with the flu. This is an increase from 159 cases last week. There were also reportedly two hospitalizations last week and one recruit’s death is under investigation. The recruit, Keon McDaniel, experienced a medical emergency on June 12 and sources say it remains unclear at this point whether the death is tied in any way to the outbreak.

The Air Force confirmed the outbreak last week, calling it a “localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training.”

“Medical professionals and Public Health officials have implemented mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees to reduce further exposure and continue to monitor the situation,” a statement from the military branch reads. “Medical personnel are also monitoring trainees who were in close contact with sick members in case they become symptomatic.” (Read more from “Military Branches Bring Back Vaccine Mandate After Virus Outbreak On Base” HERE)

Trump says Early Reports from Venezuela are ‘Not Good’ after Deadly Earthquakes

President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela had caused what he described as “a devastating number of deaths” as officials continued assessing the extent of the disaster.

Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez later said at least 32 people were killed and more than 700 were injured in the earthquakes, marking the country’s first official casualty figures.

Trump’s comments came after back-to-back earthquakes rocked Venezuela earlier Wednesday, causing widespread damage, including in the capital of Caracas, where buildings were damaged, and rescue crews searched through rubble.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said the pair of “massive” earthquakes had caused widespread devastation.

“The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths,” Trump wrote.

(Read more from “Trump says Early Reports from Venezuela are ‘Not Good’ after Deadly Earthquakes” HERE)

Trump Cancels Signing Ceremony for Housing Bill Until Senate Passes SAVE America Act

President Donald Trump canceled a scheduled signing ceremony of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act at the Capitol on Wednesday until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act.

Trump was scheduled to sign the housing bill into law at 1:00 p.m. ET, but announced in a Truth Social post on Wednesday morning that he would be canceling the ceremony.

“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he wrote.

The legislation, championed by Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), passed the Senate 89-10 and the House of Representatives 358-32, would ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes.

While Trump is supportive of the bill and whipped the House on voting for it after it was passed by the Senate, he is now holding off on signing it into law in a move to leverage the advancement of the SAVE America Act. (Read more from “Trump Cancels Signing Ceremony for Housing Bill Until Senate Passes SAVE America Act” HERE)

Obama-Appointed Judge Strikes Down Trump Order Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote in U.S. Elections

A federal judge, appointed by former President Barack Obama, has permanently enjoined an executive order by President Donald Trump that sought to reinforce election integrity by requiring proof of American citizenship to vote in federal elections, among other reforms.

On Tuesday, Judge Denise Casper, appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts by Obama in 2010, ruled that Trump’s executive order demanding that the Election Assistance Commission include a proof-of-American-citizenship requirement in its national mail voter registration form is unconstitutional.

“The Court DECLARES that §§ 2(a), 3(d), 4(a), 7(a) and 7(b) of the Executive Order are unconstitutional and void because they are ultra vires and violate the separation of powers under the United States Constitution,” Casper writes:

The Court PERMANENTLY ENJOINS Defendants, except President Trump, from taking any action to implement or enforce § 2(a) of the Executive Order or otherwise taking any steps to require documentary proof of citizenship as part of the federal mail-in voter registration form provided for in 52 U.S.C. § 20508.

The Court PERMANENTLY ENJOINS Defendants, except President Trump, from taking any action to implement or enforce § 3(d) of the Executive Order or otherwise taking any steps to alter the federal post card form provided for in 52 U.S.C. § 20301(b)(2) to require either documentary proof of citizenship or proof of eligibility to vote in elections in the State in which the voter is attempting to vote.

(Read more from “Obama-Appointed Judge Strikes Down Trump Order Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote in U.S. Elections” HERE)

Vance Takes Center Stage In White House Push To Protect GOP Majority

Vice President JD Vance flew to Bangor, Maine, on May 14 for what was billed as an Anti-Fraud Task Force rally, but the trip quickly revealed its true purpose.

Vance shouted out former GOP Gov. Paul LePage, who is mounting a congressional bid, and extended an olive branch to Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a frequent thorn in the administration’s side who faces reelection in 2026. As rallygoers waved “Protecting Taxpayer Dollars” signs, Vance made his closing argument: keep the Trump administration in power so the fraud-fighting can continue.

Maine was just the latest example of a pattern that has defined his vice presidency.

In the last five months, Vance has traveled to eight states for 11 campaign-type events. This excludes a trip like Maine, where the vice president was there technically on official business. Since taking over as finance chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Vance has headlined 25 fundraisers, an RNC official told the Daily Caller.

Outside of the president, Vance owns 2026. He’s the GOP’s top surrogate, its best closer and most valuable weapon on the trail. (Read more from “Vance Takes Center Stage In White House Push To Protect GOP Majority” HERE)

Israeli Citizen Sentenced in Arizona After Admitting Role in Semiconductor Trade-Secret Scheme

Guy Galanti, 48, an Israeli citizen who worked for an Arizona semiconductor technology company, was sentenced on Monday after admitting to a conspiracy to steal trade secrets, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

Galanti received a sentence of time served and three years of supervised release from U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow in Phoenix on Monday.

Prosecutors said Galanti had remained in custody since his September 2025 arrest.

He pleaded guilty on May 26 to conspiring to steal proprietary technology developed by Green Technology Investments, an Arizona-based company that services and refurbishes semiconductor testing equipment.

The scheme allegedly centered on the company’s “Glass Detect Design,” a system that identifies microscopic defects in glass semiconductor wafers. (Read more from “Israeli Citizen Sentenced in Arizona After Admitting Role in Semiconductor Trade-Secret Scheme” HERE)

Photo credit: LinkedIn

‘Real Alien Sh*t’: US Pilot Reportedly Describes What He Saw Moment Before Iran Blew Him Out Of Sky

The U.S. pilot who was downed over Iran in early April described seeing a “jellyfish”-like swarm of drones the moment he ejected out of his aircraft, according to a report

The downing of the F-15 fighter jet, which carried the pilot and a weapons system officer, in early April marked the first time a U.S. combat plane was shot down over Iran since the war began. The rescued pilot told intelligence officials during a debrief that he saw what appeared to be a formation of drones all moving in unison, CNN reported.

“Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs,” a source familiar with the pilot’s account said, according to CNN. “Real alien shit.”

Another source told the outlet that the pilot described a “minefield of drones.”

Intelligence officials are torn over whether the pilot’s account is fully true, CNN reported. The pilot suffered a concussion during the crash and was also the same pilot who had been accidentally shot down in a friendly-fire incident with the Kuwaiti forces earlier in the war, according to CNN’s sources. It is also unclear whether the weapons system officer saw anything similar to the pilot’s description. (Read more from “‘Real Alien Sh*t’: US Pilot Reportedly Describes What He Saw Moment Before Iran Blew Him Out Of Sky” HERE)

Netherlands Euthanizes Child Under 12 in First Case Since Major Law Change

A terminally ill child under the age of 12 was euthanized in the Netherlands for the first time — two years after a major change to the country’s assisted dying laws came into force.

Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans said the “incurably ill” child died last year, but didn’t reveal details about their age or illness during her annual report presentation to the House of Representatives on Monday, according to NOS.

Prosecutors will now decide whether the doctor involved in the case acted legally, Hermans revealed in a letter to the lawmakers.

The Dutch government legalized euthanasia for severely ill children between the ages of 1 and 12 in 2024.

“Euthanasia is only allowed for patients whose unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement has a medical dimension,” the government says.

“This can be the case with somatic diseases such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, but also with psychiatric disorders, dementia or multiple geriatric syndromes.” (Read more from “Netherlands Euthanizes Child Under 12 in First Case Since Major Law Change” HERE)

Trump gets Into Shouting Match with Sen. Bill Cassidy over Iran War in Closed-Door Meeting; ‘Cluster F*ck’: Trump’s Dramatic Feud With Senate Republicans Boils Over

By Fox News. President Trump and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) got into a shouting match during a lunch meeting Wednesday over the US war with Iran, according to sources and lawmakers who were in attendance.

GOP senators described Trump as being “mad as a murder hornet” and raising his voice at the Louisiana Republican for joining three other Republicans in a vote limiting his wartime authority.

Cassidy — who later quipped that the talks went “swimmingly” — called the president “my brother” several times during the heated exchange to lower tensions, Senate GOP sources said. The president spat back that Cassidy wasn’t his brother and told him to sit down, per CNN.

“[Trump] did not particularly care for my comments, raised his voice, I lost my temper,” Cassidy later recounted to reporters. “It’s the Irish in me.”

“But again I matched his tone and his volume, and it went back and forth,” he further explained. “So I sat down and tried to de-escalate. I guess my point is, though, that the American people need to know more than we are being told. The Senate needs to know.”

Cassidy lost his reelection to the Senate this year, when Trump backed his primary opponent in Louisiana. (Read more from “Trump gets Into Shouting Match with Sen. Bill Cassidy over Iran War in Closed-Door Meeting” HERE)

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‘Cluster F*ck’: Trump’s Dramatic Feud With Senate Republicans Boils Over

By Daily Caller. President Donald Trump’s highly anticipated appearance at the Senate Republicans’ weekly lunch took a turn for the worse, deepening the ideological fault lines between Congress and the White House.

Trump met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his Republican colleagues Wednesday to address disagreements on policies related to the Iran war and his flagship election integrity bill, known as the SAVE America Act.

These tensions reached a boiling point after Trump canceled the signing of a major bipartisan housing bill moments before the lunch was set to take place, in an attempt to further pressure the Senate to make progress on the SAVE America Act.

The lunch quickly escalated after Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy — who is serving his last term after Trump backed a successful primary challenger — unloaded on the president for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. A person familiar with the conversations told the Caller that Cassidy “went nuts over Iran,” saying the two got into a shouting match.

Trump reportedly told Cassidy to sit down and called him a “lunatic” when he refused. Cassidy also referred to Trump as “brother,” leading Trump to push back and say he wasn’t his “brother.”

(Read more from “‘Cluster F*ck’: Trump’s Dramatic Feud With Senate Republicans Boils Over” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Republicans Break with Trump to Rebuke Iran War — but it Won’t Change Policy

Senate Democrats scored another win in pushing back against President Donald Trump’s war in Iran on Tuesday, but the symbolic victory won’t actually curb his war powers in the region.

Aided by absences from Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Dave McCormick, R-Pa., Democrats and a handful of Republicans passed a war powers resolution rebuking the conflict in Iran. It’s the same resolution that passed the House earlier this month in a rare display of House Republicans breaking with Trump.

Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., joined nearly every Senate Democrat to adopt the resolution on a 50 to 48 vote.

But unlike several previous attempts in the Senate to curb Trump’s authority, the House-passed measure does not carry any legally binding weight and won’t go to the president’s desk for his signature, where it would likely be vetoed.

Still, after stumbling last week, Democrats notched another victory against the war. (Read more from “Republicans Break with Trump to Rebuke Iran War — but it Won’t Change Policy” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr